In a recent ruling,the Delhi High Court,set aside an order passed against assessee, noting that the show cause notice (SCN) had been uploaded under the ‘Additional Notices’ tab without proper intimation or an opportunity for the petitioner to respond.
Keshav Metals,petitioner-assessee,challenged an undated and unsigned show cause notice (SCN) and Notification No. 56/2023 (State Tax) in the Delhi High Court. The petitioner argued that the SCN was never received and was improperly signed. The notification had already been contested in a batch of cases, led by DJST Traders Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India & Ors.
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On April 22, 2025, the Court heard arguments on the validity of the notifications. The main concern was that the notification was issued without the GST Council’s prior approval, which was required. Some High Courts upheld similar notifications, while the Guwahati High Court had quashed them. The case was now pending before the Supreme Court in M/s HCC-SEW-MEIL-AAG JV v. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax & Ors. [SLP No. 4240/2025].
As the issue was under consideration by the Supreme Court, other High Courts, including the Punjab and Haryana High Court, decided not to rule on it and waited for the Supreme Court’s decision.
The Delhi High Court also noted that many orders were passed without giving taxpayers a chance to respond, leading to large penalties. The Court suggested that relief could still be granted, depending on the case, without deciding on the validity of the notification for now.
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The petitioner’s challenge was to be decided based on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The petitioner claimed that the show cause notice (SCN) dated 21st May 2024 was uploaded under the ‘Additional Notices Tab,’ so the petitioner didn’t see it. The order, dated 11th August 2024, was passed without a reply from the petitioner or a personal hearing.
The Court referred to a similar case where it had remanded the matter because the SCN was uploaded in the same way. Based on this, the Court set aside the impugned order.
The petitioner was given 30 days to reply to the SCNs from December 2023 and September 2023. Hearing notices would be emailed to the petitioner, and the case would be reconsidered after the reply and hearing.
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The division bench of Prathiba M.Singh (Judge) and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta (Judge) also noted that changes had been made to the portal after 16th January 2024 to make SCNs more visible. Despite the SCN being from May 2024, since the petitioner hadn’t been given a chance to respond or attend a hearing, the impugned order was set aside.
The validity of the notifications would be decided by the Supreme Court. Any decision made by the Adjudicating Authority would depend on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The writ petition was disposed of accordingly.
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